Three crepe myrtles progression

Beano · Post by **Beano** » September 19th, 2019, 10:06 am

These are my three crepes I’m working on currently.

Number 1. This one I got as bare rooted stock from eBay. It had many long straight primary branches so I’ve chosen three to keep and am working on secondary branching now, and neatening and healing of large scars.

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2.

Beano · Post by **Beano** » September 19th, 2019, 10:14 am

Number 2:
This is a crepe I bought from PeterB before he moved overseas. It is currently my favourite. I have put it into my best pot and come autumn it will look spectacular in it. It was nice to repot a tree that has already had the root work done! I have not changed the structure of this tree, but will look to work on branching after it’s leafed out.

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Beano · Post by **Beano** » September 19th, 2019, 10:26 am

Number 3: this is non-worked on nursery stock from Bunnings. Looks like they sourced it from Fleming’s. i forgot to get a photo before I worked on it but you can probably imagine what it would have looked like. I bought this to replace my old Bunnings special which was one of my first trees, but I finally accidentally killed while trying to do a ground layer last year...

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Ryceman3 · Post by **Ryceman3** » September 19th, 2019, 1:16 pm

Nice verts Beano! ... and nice set of roots developing on Number 2. I don't have a crepe myrtle so can't offer much in the way of advice but I like a good progression and this one looks worth watching.

melbrackstone · Post by **melbrackstone** » September 19th, 2019, 3:44 pm

They're all lookin good Beano. I'm always blown away by the bark on crepe myrtles, they get more beautiful the more they mature.

boom64 · Post by **boom64** » September 19th, 2019, 8:09 pm

Good work on cutting back no 1hard Beano ,now the game begins. Always nice to have a few of the same species to work on. Good luck with them all. Cheers John.

MJL · Post by **MJL** » September 20th, 2019, 11:42 am

Hey Beano, excellent post. Your Number 3 reminded me of the only Crepe Myrtle that I have been growing out the back. Your cut backs inspired me to act but with only a spoonful your boldness ... I'm getting there - just slowly.

Not hijacking your thread - but just for the record - here's one plant into two, inspired by your progression. I don't expect the cutting to survive but why not try! I took the top of the little tree in the first photo and then planted it next door.

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Beano · Post by **Beano** » September 24th, 2019, 5:40 pm

Thanks for your interest everyone. It was hard to cut number 1 back that hard, initially I just shortened every branch and waited to see if there would be any die back before selecting my final 3. I knew I had to make them short but at first I seriously thought I had chopped too far down! And of course when the new branches are green they look ridiculous but once they thickened a bit and got bark it started to look like my virts. I’m not sure I will be able to keep the alternating branches at the cut sites as it might bulge and get reverse taper, but I will attempt to reshape those cuts into short forks and see if it heals that way (one branch has had a fork shaped dieback between the two new branches). If any tree can do it, it’s a crepe. There’s just the one branch that didn’t get an opposing new bud so I have two off the same side that looks odd, I’m hoping to get an opposing bud to shoot lower on that branch then I’ll cut off one of the doubles and neaten the cut.

The Bunnings special is yet to leaf out... it had only just burst bud when I repot it but I took a lot off the bottom as its roots were an absolute mess and needed sorting out this year. I’m sure it will live. The cutting I’m not convinced about, I haven’t succeeded getting a large hard wood cutting to survive in Adelaide yet, I’m probably too neglectful. In Cairns or Brisbane it would be so easy.

Beano · Post by **Beano** » September 24th, 2019, 5:50 pm

MJL wrote: ↑September 20th, 2019, 11:42 am Hey Beano, excellent post. Your Number 3 reminded me of the only Crepe Myrtle that I have been growing out the back. Your cut backs inspired me to act but with only a spoonful your boldness ... I'm getting there - just slowly.

Not hijacking your thread - but just for the record - here's one plant into two, inspired by your progression. I don't expect the cutting to survive but why not try! I took the top of the little tree in the first photo and then planted it next door.
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Nothing wrong with leggy crepes too, more natural and feminine styling suits them well. But the eBay purchase just had branches too long and straight. If you go for the longer slender look then you need to get movement into the branches before they’re too thick. They do bend pretty easily though but I prefer to wire a little while the shoots are green (loosely and thin gauge). They grow fast so you can get wire cut in but if they’re still green it only takes a couple of weeks to get the shape set and the wire dig in marks don’t stay if you get it off while green. They’re also hardy and vigorous while green, where I find if you try to wire smaller, weaker, thin and lifnified branches they don’t thrive and the branch can die back. Alternatively the other time I wire is in winter when it’s bare and I leave the wire on all winter.

Beano · Post by **Beano** » March 21st, 2020, 6:50 pm

Update for number 1:
Not looking too bad. I didn’t get around to neatening the chopped areas this year, so I’ll try to do it in spring once it leads out again.

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juan73870 · Post by **juan73870** » March 21st, 2020, 8:01 pm

looking good, getting a really nice taper on the beautiful thick trunk there

crepe myrtles have a really good look to them, in my opinion. yours look awesome

Beano · Post by **Beano** » April 10th, 2020, 4:01 pm

Beano wrote: ↑September 19th, 2019, 10:26 am Number 3: this is non-worked on nursery stock from Bunnings. Looks like they sourced it from Fleming’s. i forgot to get a photo before I worked on it but you can probably imagine what it would have looked like. I bought this to replace my old Bunnings special which was one of my first trees, but I finally accidentally killed while trying to do a ground layer last year...
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Number 3 Update:
Lovely autumn colour on this one. It’s grown pretty well considering it leafed our rather late and I was very hard on the root prune and cut back.

It’s companion cutting is also growing.

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melbrackstone · Post by **melbrackstone** » April 11th, 2020, 5:30 pm

Wow, brilliant colour already!

Beano · Post by **Beano** » May 3rd, 2020, 12:43 pm

Three different crepes - they all changed at different times. The bottom one which is the oldest most likely, didn’t really change but started to drop leaves first. The remaining leaves have coloured a bit. The young one is white flowering and went first. The blue pot one has been the last to go. I’m still trying to find a nice pot for that one.

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Beano · Post by **Beano** » May 10th, 2020, 3:51 pm

up close.

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